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Ticonderoga-Class Supercarrier
Originally built to crush opposition during the Inner Colony Wars, the Ticonderoga-''class supercarrier was the first class of supercarrier built by the UNSC. Designed by RDML Pochinkov during the start of the Second Inner Colony War, the ''Ticonderoga-''class was designed to reach remote rebel colonies and bring them back into the fold unsupported. The largest UNSC ship ever constructed at the time, the ''Ticonderoga ''showed the UNSC's commitment to keep the Inner Colonies as a part of the UEG sphere. The ''Ticonderoga was extremely successful,'' and many more ships of the class were ordered and constructed. After being retired for over a hundred and thirty years, the class was brought back into service to combat the Covenant onslaught. Design Being one of the first naval vessels constructed since the Interplanetary wars, the ''Ticonderoga-''class was designed off of extremely old ships. Originally, the class was planned to be a massive battleship that would crush opposing fleets. However, as it was being constructed, many high ranking naval officers realized that building a ship based off ancient designs would cause problems down the road. This halted the construction of the ''Ticonderoga ''as the ship went through a major redesign and multiple feasibility tests. The new design would have a long, bulky look, with many different ''" blocks" or sections that would be connected at bulkheads. Reviewing the new design, many of the engineers realized that the ship could not have the extreme firepower the UNSC wanted. They could only put one experimental heavy coilgun and having the planned 200 Archer Missile Pods were impractical and a danger to the ship itself. The many changes in design caused the ship to be reclassified as the first ever UNSC supercarrier. Reactor and Engines The supercarrier was given a new, top of the line power system, containing the first fusion reactors of any naval vessel. This included two large fusion reactors, along with four smaller fusion/fission reactors for auxiliary or emergency power. The engines were part of the new massive Boglin Fields: S11/Y-DFR Fusion Engines line. The designers thought the engines would make the supercarrier faster than a cruiser, however, many newer, more modern ships outpaced the large carrier. The reactors were refit with top-of-the-line fusion cores in 2531, increasing its speed, however, the large amount of power put stress on the engines, so they had to constantly be repaired. This made the old supercarrier have to repair after every two months of active duty, so another refit was required in 2533. These new engines allowed the supercarrier to keep up with the more modern UNSC fleet while not having to constantly be repaired. Armament and Structure The Ticonderoga-''class was designed to be the flagship of the entire UNSC fleet during the Inner Colony Wars, so in accordance with its role, it was heavily armed and armored. Due to the ships role in combat, the ''Ticonderoga-''class was designed with many bulkheads within its superstructure to stop incoming coilgun rounds. This feature, along with the two meters of Titanium-A Plating, made the ship extremely durable. These bulkheads were designed around many ship sections that could be optimized for different missions. This allowed the ship to pack more firepower, fighters, or ground support. This versatility made it one of the most successful lines of ships during the Inner Colony Wars. The offensive weaponry was less versatile, but the heavy coilgun allowed the supercarrier to fight evenly with any ship it encountered. After the ship was brought back into service in 2531, its offensive weaponry was upgraded to compete with the Covenant threat. Armed with a Mark V "Super" MAC and two smaller Heavy MACs, the ''Ticonderoga-''class could fight toe-to-toe with almost any Covenant ship. The "Super" MAC was capable of annihilating or disabling any Covenant ship. The original salvo from the Mark V MAC could wipe out the main Covenant threat, while the two heavy MACs could finish off any escort ships that were accompanying the Covenant capital ship. The ship's secondary armament mainly consisted of a large rail gun array and hundreds of missiles. These armaments, although not as powerful as the main guns, were deadly to smaller Covenant ships. The 24 Ares Missile Pods also could do extreme damage to any shielded or unshielded Covenant vessels. These were used in conjunction with the heavy MACs to great effect against smaller Covenant destroyers and frigates. Operational History Development The concept of a huge battleship had been on the forefront of UEG and UNSC naval doctrine since the First Inner Colony War. When tension started to arise again in 2378, the UNSC started to offer contracts to companies that could design and construct these new battleships. Many designs were offered, but none were deemed acceptable by the Admiralty. They were used as a base by Rear Admiral Adrik Pochinkov for his battleship design, however. This new design, although promising, had many flaws and had to be redesigned. The massive amount of energy for three heavy coilguns was too much for even the new fusion reactors. The massive amounts of missiles that the ship would carry would cause horrendous internal damage if storage areas were hit. When the Second Inner Colony War broke out in 2384, the impracticality of a battleship was realized. The role of a heavy hitting ship was already fulfilled by the cruisers the UNSC already fielded, so the design was almost completely disregarded. However, the need to retake rebel worlds caused the UNSC to review the design. RDML Pochinkov, using his own carrier as a guide, helped redesign the ship into a carrier with multiple "blocks" that could be configured for a specific mission or task. These "blocks" also allowed the ship to take heavy damage yet still be easily repaired. The design called for extreme size to carry all the fighters and ground troops needed to assault rebel worlds. This lead to the ''Ticonderoga-class being reclassified as the first ever supercarrier. Second Inner Colony War Early War Constructions on the lead ship, the UNSC Ticonderoga, began in June, 2384. When it was launched in December of 2385 along side it's 3 sister ships, the UNSC did not plan on constructing anymore. The class was, at first, only used in defensive operations. The UNSC and CMA did not want to anger the public further by having the most expensive ships ever constructed annihilated within the first months of their launch. However, public opinion was still against the UEG, and as the war dragged on even longer with little success, the UEG was forced to deploy the UNSC Halifax and CMA Old Rainworth ''in offensive actions. Although the UEG commanded the UNSC and CMA to deploy their ships in offensive actions, the two military branches were still hesitant. The ''Halifax ''was deployed to New Carthage to participate in the last act of the Skopje offensive, the final stroke of Operation: THUNDERBOLT. Although it was held at the rear of the battlegroup, the ''Halifax ''performed extremely well, engaging and destroying three rebel frigates and a cruiser. When the battlegroup had gained orbital supremacy, the ''Halifax ''deployed its complement of ground troops and fighter craft. Within 74 hours of landfall, over 70% of the rebel forces had been overrun or destroyed mainly by troops from ''Halifax. ''CMA ''Old Rainworth ''was deployed at Falaknuma, producing even greater results. ''Old Rainworth ''engaged three destroyers, two frigates, and an opposing carrier within a 48 hour period. Although it was in heavy combat and sustained heavy damage, it still had over 90% of its original combat capabilities. This hardiness and resilience, along with its offensive capabilities, caused the navy to order six more ships. Late War After the successes at New Carthage and Falaknuma, the ''Ticonderoga-''class was assigned to more offensive actions. In May 2387, the UNSC ''Halifax was assigned to the Tenth Fleet and engaged a rebel force above Meridian. After routing the fleet, the Halifax ''engaged and followed the retreating rebels alone. After following the fleet to Arcadia, the ''Halifax ''engaged and destroyed most of the opposing force before launching a ground invasion. This victory was unprecedented, as the ''Halifax was the first UEG vessel to engage and destroy over seven vessels. It was even more impressive that the Halifax had destroyed a carrier and a cruiser along with five frigates. This engagement showed that the Ticonderoga-''class could beat any capital ship it faced off against. Also, with the capture of Arcadia with minimal local support showed that the class could act independently. This could allow the UEG to split their forces and hopefully break the stalemate. After this major success, twenty more vessels were ordered. As the war dragged on into 2388, the ''Ticonderoga-class supercarriers scored dozens of kills and had the highest number of kills per ship during the war. With more and more being produced, the rebel colonies were pressured to counter the new supercarrier. However, they did not have the shipyards to produce such a large ship, and they had very few heavy coilguns that could pierce the superstructure of the ''Ticonderoga-''class.